The monsters came once upon a time.

Chapter 5

Stumbling to meet the cold hard floor the impact slightly jarring my body, but only temporarily, allowed me to relax for a fleeting minute. The previous strenuous exertion clearly haven taken a toll on my battered body. Whilst in the heat of battle the pain from banging into objects and confronting the goblins was covered through the high release of adrenaline surging through my body activated by my fight or flight response. Unfortunately, this concussion of hormones dissipated in my blood allowing me to feel the bruises from the exchange. Red gloopy blood trickled over both knuckles leaving them in a crescendo of blacks blues and reds. Organizing my thoughts from the previous battle allowed me to understand that my fleeting concentration and awareness could have proven dangerous in the battle.

Once more searching my vision I noticed the soft flickering embers of purple and grey coming into life in the bottom corner of my vision. Focusing on this suspicious phenomenon was greeted with a rather loud and mechanical response.

{Congratulation sapient life form of #009247113* designated as Human. I am pleased to inform you that your planet has reached the required value of Etherion Particles to begin fusion into the Universal Nexus. Unfortunately due to the week levels of the inhabitants on Planet #009247113* now designated as Earth, you have failed to reach planetary ranking. Resubmissions will take place at a Later date.}

{Congratulation Human you have successfully killed a member of another sapient race from a ranked planet}

{Congratulation Human you were the first inhabitant of Earth to successful kill another Ether infused race providing you with Ether particles}

{Congratulation Human due to this feat the title First Player will be given as well as access to the nexus system given to Players}

{Congratulation Player for successful killing multiple hostiles above your level without a system and the First player title you will be awarded with a Reward "Random Reward Wheel" which can be accessed through your interface}

{Click accept to view Player System}

Looking at the torrent of words shimmering in front of my face seeming almost lifelike left my mouth agape. Was I part of some greater scheme that involved multiple worlds? These scenes clearly reminded me of the novels and manga I read. The feeling of wanting to belong in such a world using real ideas and not stupidity to leave the shackles of being a normal human. The Euphoria spiking through my central nervous system suppressed all feelings of pain. Multiple emotions cascaded over me, different thought and ideas, what could be the limit? Was there a limit? Could I grow endlessly? If someone was to say such an opportunity was not exciting then said individual should probably question their life choices. A huge smile penetrated my grimy face, revealing whites showing no contrast with the mess around my face.

"Finally a system, yes, YEESS"

I shouted briefly quickly covering my mouth to prevent the bickering humans from mistaking me as another creature sharing an origin with those before. I wasn't crazy but the realization that the boundaries that humans put in place were broken, the stories of monsters and gods, the limits, and what we perceived as impossible could clearly be flipped around. I for one would gratefully accept such a change providing my family was safe. I mean who doesn't want to be strong right?

I quickly clicked yes pushing my hand through the air making a mistake repeated by all the eager in novels. The purple screen was clearly incorporeal and could not be touched.

"Of course get the system and make the first cliché mistake, how disappointing"

Heavily sighing releasing a steam of misty white, I recalled the way to use a floating system from novels and used my mind to focus on the accept button.

{Welcome to Player system

Name: Raza

Age: 20

Nickname: Number 2

Class: -

Level: 1

23:25:14

Trait:-

Titles: First Player (E/U)

SP: 5

Ether Particles: 150+20

Stats:[

Strength:12 +2

Stamina:11 +2

Agility:10 +2

Dexterity:10 +2

Endurance:13 +2

Wisdom:12 +2

Intelligence:15 +2]

Active skills: -

Passive skills:-

Click for further information}

Rubbing my filthy palms in glee, I immediately recognized the 7 holy stat option from the many games I played. The SP obviously was stat points and level 1 indicated where the points came from however the fact that five were given led me to wonder whether the value was always 5 or its was a 1-time gig. The class and name was self-explanatory and the nickname was obvious in its origin. But we will l leave that for a later time. Clicking the further information button I was asked for an individual or summary for which I quickly accepted summary to make sure my ideas for the stats were the same.

{Congratulations player on making it to level 1 5 SP have been awarded. Since your level is low you have not been awarded a class and the lack of a trait shows your collective species impressiveness}

Looking at the obvious insult reminded me that we were probably no longer the apex predators but the fact that a class was achievable lead me to swipe the snappy remarks of the voice away peering for further information.

{Title: First player - Epic/Unique +2 to all stats ( gives players a 10% increase in all skill levels and traits, this does not stack on passives and does not progress over 100%)

Trait: a unique ability from either race or gifted from the gods. Unfortunately, your pathetic race has none.

Ether particles or EP: 150 (this shows the maximum number of particles flowing through your weak system. The regen rate is dependent on wisdom and the rank of your world. Higher rank worlds have higher EP regen but unfortunately, yours does not)

SP: 5 (points which can be invested in your stat menu to allow for quicker progression. These points are sources of pure Etherions from each level gained. Note any used cannot be reclaimed)

[Strength: the amount of force your muscles can exert note that dramatic increases in this stat can lead to muscles swelling.

Stamina: the recuperative ability for your body how long you can remain active.

Agility: the speed of your nervous system, how quickly you can react and move to external stimuli and increase in overall speed by the elasticity of joints and tendons.

Dexterity: how efficiently you can move your limbs improving fine motor function.

Endurance: the strength of both skin and bones and the level of damage the organism can take.

Wisdom: the amount of ether regen possible take number and divide by 100 for per min regeneration. Note memory recall increases through this stat.

Intelligence: the amount of ether available in the organism's body times the number by 10 for exact ether particle value. Note learning speed increase through this stat.

Note your species shows an average value of 10 in the stats mentioned, unlucky player]

Active skills: skills that can be activated by implementing ether particles.

Passive skills: skills which are consistently active and require no ether expenditure some can be toggled on of }

Taking a deep breath absorbing the sweet air, I relaxed going over the options. The stats clearly showed that there were limitless options on how to build a character and the obvious side effects attached to each such as muscle swelling. The fact that 5 SP points were available, meant humans could get strong fast by grinding, however, if such a bug was possible I doubt the system would refer to us as a pathetic race implied from above. Maybe this was a 1-time thing.